Tag: self-defense

Watch this KR Training video and follow this link to find the course of fire Karl and John Daub are shooting in the video. This course of fire provides a minimum standard that all handgun carriers should be able to meet. Can you?

This was an intimidating class for me, but I put it on my 2018 goal list and made it happen, thanks to Karl Rehn of KR Training. In this sold-out class, Tom Givens taught a class of 18 students the finer points of adult learning theory, deadly force law, and how to identify, correct and communicate solutions for shooting skills issues among our students. While most of the material wasn’t new to me, Tom’s expertise and years of experience informed the way he relayed that information and his expectations of us as instructors. In addition, he emphasized the importance of qualification tests to verify that learning has occurred in a firearms class. After three days, 15 of us successfully earned Rangemaster Instructor Certification, based on objective qualification courses of fire and a comprehensive written exam.

This class was a light-bulb moment for me as an instructor. Course curriculum development usually starts out like any other goal-oriented project planning timeline:

Identify a stated goal or learning objective

Work backwards from that to identify the layers of skill needed to achieve that goal

Develop a plan for teaching those skills in a way that works for most adult learners

Moving forward, I’ll first identify the qualification or test that I’ll employ to verify that the course objective has been met, and then begin building curriculum to meet it. In effect, I’ll be teaching to the test. But, it will be a test that lends itself to the development of skills applicable in the context of real-world defensive scenarios that are most probable given the current body of statistical information.

In other words, I’ll be training my students for real life. Sounds familiar.

This course was a pivot point for me as a self-defense industry professional. My firearms focus has always been self-defense, and I’ve been blessed with level-headed mentors (Kathy Jackson, The Cornered Cat, and Karl Rehn of KR Training) who’ve taught me that people need practical training that applies to their everyday lives and the protection of the same. For my students, what will change is that I’m going to make sure they’ve internalized the lessons and met the goals we’ve set together. For my own instruction, I’m going to seek out classes that require that same verification. I owe my students and myself the opportunity to demonstrate either mastery of a skill or the need for remediation. Without putting skills to the test, how can we be sure that learning has occurred?

Our lives are worth protecting, and our skills give us the means to do it effectively, without endangering anyone else in the process. That’s our minimum standard as gun owners, because as Kathy Jackson likes to say, “A gun is not a rabbit’s foot that keeps the bad guys away.” Indeed. It’s a tool. It’s our JOB to make sure we have the mindset, training and skills necessary to use that tool safely under extreme stress. Let’s get to training.

Texas Personal Defense Training will offer the National Rifle Association’s award-winning crime prevention and personal safety seminar, Refuse To Be A Victim®, on February 25, 2017, at Ratibor Country Grill. This event will run from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., with lunch on your own to follow. Cost is $40 for attendees, and $30 for members of A Girl and A Gun Women’s Shooting League.

Becky Dolgener, NRA Instructor, said the class is a natural next step for Texas Personal Defense Training.

“Our focus is helping women—and all Central Texans—to place more value on their own safety,” Dolgener explained. “What we started when we brought A Girl and A Gun Women’s Shooting League to Temple is just the beginning, and it caught on in a big way with lots of local women wanting to share their love for firearms. Whatever gets people thinking about their safety, we’re all for it.”

Dolgener launched the Temple Chapter of A Girl and A Gun Women’s Shooting League in June 2015. The group hosts multiple events each month at local shooting ranges, introducing women to the shooting sports while emphasizing education and safety. The group’s core membership is made up primarily of NRA-certified Range Safety Officers, who assist at events. While Refuse To Be A Victim seminars aren’t firearms classes, Dolgener says they’re essential to her mission.

“Our goal is to help our students build their safety toolkit, and that requires looking at personal safety strategies from lots of different angles.”

Developed in response to nationwide requests for crime prevention seminars, Refuse To Be A Victim teaches methods to avoid dangerous situations and prevent criminal confrontations. Seminar participants will be presented with a variety of common‑sense crime prevention and personal safety strategies and devices that may be integrated into their personal, home, automobile, telephone, technological, and travel security.

Since 1993, Refuse To Be A Victim has been endorsed by law enforcement members throughout the United States for its positive impact. With more than 7,000 instructors, seminars have been held in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Here’s how you can apply SMART goal-setting to your pistol training and actually become a better shooter.

What’s your reason for training with firearms?

Maybe you’re a target shooter who wants to improve accuracy or speed. Maybe you’re a competitor looking win competitions. Maybe you’re someone who carries a gun for self-defense, and you’ve realized that hefty responsibility requires training. Maybe you’re an instructor who realizes that training is never finished, and you actively seek to learn more in all disciplines.

Whatever your reason for wanting to improve as a shooter, you had better have one. Not many successful people have gotten there by accident; successful people have a plan of action, and they work to make it happen. Stop waiting for your skills to magically materialize, and instead do the work to improve. Here’s how you can apply SMART goal-setting to your pistol training and actually become a better shooter.

Specific

“Become a better shot” is not a specific training goal. Let’s say you’ve decided that you’re focused on pistol shooting for self-defense purposes. Your goal might be, “shoot 90 percent or better on the Texas LTC qualification test.” Once you’ve determined what your focus is, and you know what it takes to get there, you can more easily set specific, step-wise goals.

Measurable

Obviously, calculating a percentage of your total rounds which hit their mark is a measurable goal. But, what if you “just want to get faster” at drawing from concealment and accurately hitting your mark? That requires a shot timer, and it wouldn’t hurt to take video so you can critique technique and make sure you’re not sacrificing technique and safety as you work to increase speed.

Attainable

It’s unlikely that a new shooter will qualify for an Olympic rifle team in their first year, but placing in the top 20 in a local Steel Challenge match might be realistic with adequate training and practice. For the defense-minded, if you’ve already earned your LTC (License to Carry) in Texas, you should have been required to shoot with 70 percent accuracy in the qualification portion of the class. Improving that score to 90 percent could be realistic with a specific plan of action.

Relevant

Set a goal that’s important to you. Why is improving a qualification score by 20 percent important? Why do you want to increase your target presentation speed from concealment? Both speed and accuracy will benefit anyone interested in carrying a firearm for self-defense. You may (hopefully) never have to employ those skills in real life, but you’ll be more confident and better trained having developed them.

Time-Limited

“Someday” isn’t on any calendar I’ve ever seen. Give yourself a hard deadline for meeting your training goals, and stick with it. Write it on the calendar, and then figure out what halfway to your goal looks like. Write that on the calendar halfway to your deadline. We know through research that practicing skills the right way more frequently works better than infrequent marathon practice sessions, so schedule daily or three-times-weekly practice sessions once you’ve trained and learned those skills.

Set a goal today, and if you need training, set it up now. There are ample opportunities to train with firearms in Central Texas, and we’re working every day to bring you more. Whatever your goal, train SMART, and train for real life.